Homefront: Jason Statham does what Jason Statham does

Homefront stars Jason Statham. Going in, you know stereotypical bad guys are going to be dispatched in a variety of creative ways. There will be car chases, lots of gun play and babes in various forms of revealing and sexy outfits, and all will revolve around Statham's character and some sort of crime.

Here, it's a drug bust.

Statham plays a retired DEA agent hiding with his daughter in a backwater Louisiana town. Wanting nothing more than an ordinary life, he and the daughter tick off some drug dealing locals with nasty dispositions, and all hell breaks loose.

But that's the point, right?

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Homefront has a most-excellent cast doing most-excellent acting. Statham is a pretty good actor, and he's joined by James Franco, Kate Bosworth and Winona Ryder, who are the film's villains.

What's most interesting about Homefront isn't the action or the plot. It's that Sylvester Stallone wrote the screenplay from a novel by Chuck Logan but doesn't appear in the movie.

Trust me on this one: Stallone not being in Homefront is a positive. A film already dragged down by cliche-ridden lines, characters and action would be slowed down further with the leaden Stallone in any of the roles.

That's the negative. On the positive side, Homefront is guilty pleasure if this is your type of movie.

About Gary Wolcott

Gary Wolcott's "Mr. Movie" column has appeared in the Tri-City Herald since 1992. The Tri-Cities native now lives in Portland, Ore., and watches about 200 movies each year. He believes movies are made to be seen on theater screens and that you should see them there, too. He also encourages questions and comment and loves movie debate.